EWING — The Arc Mercer’s human resources director has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the nonprofit organization over three months, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said yesterday.

Christopher English, 32, of Delran continued to generate paychecks for employees who had resigned or were terminated and deposited the checks into a bank account, the prosecutor’s office said. From January to March, he allegedly used the money to buy a number of big-ticket items, including a 2013 Ford F-150, a golf cart and a $30,000 travel trailer.

Arc Mercer’s payroll company reported some discrepancies to the organization, which investigated and discovered the embezzlement, the prosecutor’s office said. English was arrested Thursday. Arc Mercer officials said quick action by the police and prosecutors helped the organization recover the lost funds.

“They were relentless and thorough to make sure not a penny was lost that could be used to help people with developmental disabilities,” board president Geoff Morris said.
English was charged with second-degree theft by deception and released on $60,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine.

In a statement, Arc Mercer officials said they were transitioning to a new payroll vendor in January when management uncovered some irregularities through internal audit mechanisms. In recent weeks they identified several payments to employees who should not have been on the payroll, being sent via direct deposit to a single account, the statement said.

The organization identified a total of about $82,000 going to the bank account and to another account for debit cards used for employee pay, and suspended activity to the accounts days before they were slated to receive another $21,000, the statement said.
The case was referred to the prosecutor’s office last week.

Arc Mercer director Steve Cook said almost all of the money, in cash and assets, was recovered by the Ewing police and the prosecutor’s office.

“Recovering them really made all the difference in eliminating our financial impact,” Cook said. “There is absolutely zero disruption to any service or any program or any employee’s pay, and there will be no financial impact to the Arc at all.”

Insurance will reimburse the organization for any funds not recouped by the police, he said.

The Arc Mercer serves people with developmental disabilities. It has almost 350 employees and an annual budget of close to $17 million, the organization said.